Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Looking great now . Paints on the walls . Bathrooms getting tiled . Kitchen is almost complete . New fire hydrant getting installed today .In floor heating up and running . Powers hooked up . Greenhouse is wired .Some near final grading being done around the building . All door ways had balusters installed to protect them . Things are coming together fast . Looks fantastic inside with the paint on the walls . Looks bigger than the pics. Nice job .!!﻿

Al's new lift arrived yesterday . He is smiling from ear to ear.

Looks great , lots of room to maneuver machinery around to get on/off the lift . Lots of height to.

Grinding room . Ventilation for room and building near completion .

In floor heating and boiler room .

Window trim finished in offices . The natural light gives the place a great feeling inside .

New kitchen area.

Luchroom looks even bigger now . Drop ceiling framing in place . Most likely the ceiling panels will be one of the last things installed .

Cold storage .

Shower stalls in bathrooms . Good to have on hand for the spray techs

Mechanic's shop .

The jewel in Al's shop .

﻿Greenhouse also has the auto louvers on the side to control conditions inside greenhouse automatically .

Thursday, March 21, 2013

After I'm done all my winter grinding it's a good time to service and check the grinders . When we are in full swing the grinders in the shop will be ready to go . I first started with a good mask and brushed all the loose grinding dust of the machine .The grinding dust gets into every nook and cranny . I'm just going to go over the grinding head today . Check the service manual for cleaning under the bellows . If your grinders working well you will only have to soak the 3 rails with WD 40 and pass the grinding head back and forth wiping the access fluid off .Use only WD 40 ! the grinding head going back and forth will make the bearings pick up the oil to lubricate them . Here are a few pics with it torn down to clean . Just make yourself a good clean area on the back of grinder to lay the parts out on . If your grinder sound unusually loud then check the bearings in the grinding head for play . Mine where replaced by the dealer tech when I first received the used grinder from our sister course . Also check the drive belt for wear and adjustment .

Started of with swinging the gib plate assembly up . Makes working on it easier .

Remove the the 2 allan bolts that hold the finger release on gib plate . Be carefull there is a spring that pushes against the finger that will fall out . Locate the spring before pulling it off .

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Lay the parts out after cleaning each pieces as it's removed . You can see the spring in the pic above .

Next remove the index finger assembly .

A 9/16' socket and 1/2 wrench will take the lock type nut off .

Clean and lay out on back of grinder . There are 2 washers on the left side only . Also check the bearing pressed in the arm for play .

I removed the bottom travel stop plate .

You can see the dove tail plate . This is what the gib plate screws push on to remove play .

Next remove the relief finger . Only one bolt . It does have 2 pins to line it up properly .

Now remove the index finger adjuster and locking mechanism by rotating the locking lever till you see the set screws ( 2 of them one on each side ) The set screws is what locks the adjuster to the shaft . It is also keyed to the shaft .

Once the set screws are out you can soak the opening with a good penetrating fluid . The adjuster will tap off . Tap lightly alternating both sides . Once it's removed you can spin the locking section off .

Lay it all out they way it came out .

Now you can adjust the relief finger plate up to get the stop plates off.

Loosen off the gib nuts and four screws .

Then it will unscrew right off .

As your cleaning the parts check for wear and replace parts as needed . Getting parts may take a week depending where you are . Another good reason to go over your grinder when they are sitting idle.

The dovetail gib plate stuck to the reel finger positioner . Just remove and clean .

Here is one of the reason I had to readjust the gib screws to take the play out when ever it was moved to much . The dovetail gib

Here is what gib screws are pushing on for adjustment .

I'll be installing a new dovetail gib . You can start reassembling in revers order

Before putting the index finger adjuster back on the shaft check to see that the key is still there .

Some of the adjustments . The large adjuster is for the amount of degree angle for relief grinding . If for some reason your grinder goes out of whack while relief grinding you may have to adjust the tension on the side . There is a plastic bushing the holds pressure against the threads so it doesn't back off easily . Count the turns from stop to stop and find a setting in the middle for a good starting point .

When your putting this finger release back on there is some wiggle room . Also don't forget about the spring .

Engage the finger stop before tightening bolts . After adjustment it should line up easily when going from lock to unlock positions .

If there is a lot of play in the finger adjustment knob there is a collar that can be loosened of and adjusted to take some of the play out .

You can adjust it to the spin grind stone to about a 1/16th gap . I leave this stone on because I only touch up the the reel lightly during the season as needed . Recheck the gib screws and adjust till play is gone . They relief finger adjuster should still be able to move with a little effort . In relief grinding any play here will cause the grinder to grind heavy one way more than the other . It will a little any way but if this is off enough it will grind one way but not the other .

All ready to grind . The final adjustments will be made when a reel goes on .

I cover the grinders till the season starts because the guys use the shop to get some course fixtures ready ( sanding T blocks etc. )

The foleys have great manuals that you can down load on line for your grinder . I find them well laid out and easy to use . If there are problems you can go to the trouble shooting section and you can get to the root of the problem fairly quickly and Ihave had great support from the company .

Monday, March 18, 2013

We have had this machine for 2 seasons . It's popular with the guys and is one of the first machines they go to . For some reason Toro does not have a reverse buzzer on these models ? Last season we had a few issues at the narrowing hopper where the guys would forget that they backed up to get a load and when they left they went the wrong way hitting their helmets on the hopper . This year we are getting a couple of MD's which do not come standard with backup buzzers. So I'm ordering the kits and installing them on theses units when they get here . ﻿

Here is one small problem that makes me leave the shop at least a dozen times during the season . Above is a pick of the fuse block .The problem is when the guys are hopping in and out they tend to hit the large fuse for the dump bed stopping it's function .

I corrected this problem by removing the mounting bolts and just flipping it to under the bonnet . Re drilled for mounting holes and install . It will be more protected and less mud etc . will get kicked up on it .

While doing the winter work on this machine I noticed the remote mounted oil filter lines where getting wear marks .The engine moves up and down on the rear swing arm . I'm thinking with heavy loads and our bumpy terrain it is rubbing on the box frame .

A few zip ties should take care of it . The only thing I really dislike is the starter generator placement and belt adjustment . Also the starter/gen terminals and wire ends are starting to look weak from all the debris splashing up on them , I'm hopeing that they will not snap off when it becomes time to give them a good cleaning . Over all not a bad machine and the big plus is how the machine swivels in the center ,makes for a very smooth ride and all 4 wheels stay on the turf .

I post some pic's later on of the back up buzzer install when I get them . ﻿

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Getting closer . Power and plumbing is all roughed in inside the building now . Just waiting for the final hook up from the Power Corporation .Still running on temporary power source . New water main ran to the building last week . The Rotary lift will be here soon for installation . Taking a little longer than expected and soon will be into a new season . Dry wall tappers are getting the final touches done and are starting to get walls ready for mud . You can get a feel for the place now . Al's new shop is huge .

Al's shop . No lights on . great to have all that natural light coming in . Just to the left of the saw horse will be the lift . Electrical room in the background . The ventilation has carbon monoxide detectors and will vent building as needed (wow).

The grinding room is almost half the size of my current shop at the old course . Very nice having the ventilation .